World and national reports with a local flavor; occasional political rants.

Warrantless wiretapping act renewed by Senate

About this blog

By Michael Gerstein

Michael Gerstein is a sophomore philosophy major at Michigan State University. He works as a Capital News Service correspondent where he covers state politics and policy for the Sturgis Journal, Three Rivers Commercial News, and South Bend
...

Michael Gerstein is a sophomore philosophy major at Michigan State University. He works as a Capital News Service correspondent where he covers state politics and policy for the Sturgis Journal, Three Rivers Commercial News, and South Bend Tribune. He grew up in Sturgis.

Recent Posts

Wikipedia

National Security Agency's official logo.

By Michael Gerstein

Dec. 30, 2012
12:01 a.m.

Senators voted 73-23 Friday morning to extend warrantless surveillance powers afforded to the government through the FISA Amendments Act.

Passed with bipartisan support, the bill is an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act originally passed in 1978 in lieu of the Watergate scandal.

But in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the powers granted under the act were dramatically expanded to allow surveillance of foreign nationals and American citizens alike.

National Public Radio writes that “the controversial bill, which allows federal agencies to eavesdrop on communications and review email without following an open and public warrant process, has long been a target for privacy and rights groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, which is involved in a Supreme Court case over FISA.

But there was some measure of dissent from within the Capitol Building as well.

Some of the most staunch criticism stemming from within the Senate was offered by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who suggested an amendment to require warrants in order to conduct surveillance, whether while snooping through emails or wiretapping.

That amendment was rejected.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore) offered another amendment that would have required intelligence agencies to find out exactly how many Americans have been spied on without a warrant, but that amendment was also shot down.

“Americans have no way of figuring out how their laws are being interpreted," Wyden said. “We don't expect the public to, in effect, just accept secret law.”

It seems that's exactly what is happening.

An Agence France Presse report appearing in Business Insider reported that the National Security Agency deemed Wyden's request “beyond the capacity” of their office.

Michelle Richardson of the ACLU also lamented over what happened yesterday morning, according to a post in Mother Jones.

"It's incredibly disappointing that such modest amendments that would have done nothing more than increase transparency and accountability failed to pass in the Senate," she said.